Charges of domestic abuse made against Washington Redskins linebacker Reuben Foster from a Nov. 24, 2018, arrest in Tampa, Fla., were recently dropped.
Foster was set to appear in court Thursday, but paperwork filed Wednesday dismissed the charges, which came following a dispute with his ex-girlfriend Elissa Ennis at a hotel in the city.
She claimed he “slapped her phone out of her hand, pushed her in the chest area and slapped her with an open hand on the left side of the face.” Due to this claim, he spent a night in prison, got cut by the San Francisco 49ers, and was placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, forcing him to miss the final six games of the season.
Although it is important to take such charges seriously and the NFL should have a zero tolerance policy toward domestic violence, this case is yet another example of why due process is so important when it comes to these types of allegations.
After all, this is the second time Foster had been accused of domestic violence by the same woman, hence why the league essentially suspended him without any evidence. In February, Foster was charged with felony domestic violence, but Ennis later said she lied about the incident in order to get money from Foster.
This time around, Ennis, who appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to make her claim against Foster, changed her story on multiple occasions, as Foster’s lawyer, Eddie Suarez, argued. This hurt Ennis’ credibility, as it would any other accuser.
Even if the charges were not dropped, we still live under the rule of law and people are entitled to a fair trial. The idea that people should be punished merely on the basis of allegations is a dangerous one. It’s the same line of logic that denies people their rights that was used during the Salem Witch Trials and later to lynch African-Americans in the Jim Crow South. Keep in mind, some of those lynchings were carried out by the Ku Klux Klan on the basis of false rape allegations.
Had Foster’s case gone to court and he been found guilty, the NFL would have a moral obligation to boot him from the league. However, had Foster been found innocent in a trial, then the NFL would have to let him back into the league for the 2019 season and admit they were wrong to suspend him if the courts found no wrongdoing. Regardless of the hypotheticals, it now appears likely he will be eligible for NFL play during the 2019 season.
Before making decisions that could impact someone for the rest of their lives, the NFL (and everyone else) should carefully consider all sides and give the accused a chance to defend themselves before jumping to any strong conclusions. There is a chance the accused is innocent, hence why there is presumption of innocence for defendants in the court system.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
